PEA Scholarship Policy
There shall be a Scholarships Committee created annually by Association Executive motion and comprised of two Association Executive members, plus up to three members at large. No scholarship applicant or relative of an applicant shall be eligible to serve on the Scholarships Committee.
The Association Executive may make up to ten scholarships of $1,000 each available to PEA members, their relatives, or relatives of PEA staff. Scholarship awards shall be subject to the following terms:
Eligibility
- PEA members in good standing, their relatives and relatives of PEA staff shall be eligible to apply for PEA scholarships. At the discretion of the Scholarships Committee, “members” may include persons formerly employed in a PEA bargaining unit who are receiving long-term disability benefits under terms of a PEA collective agreement. For the purpose of this policy “relative” shall mean spouse (including common-law spouse and same-sex spouse), parent, child or grandchild.
- Applicants must be registered, or in the process of being registered, in a full-time post-secondary educational program for an upcoming educational session. Full-time registration will not be required of applicants who are prevented by a disability from registering full-time in a regular academic program.
Requirements
- Scholarship applicants shall direct applications to the Scholarships Committee in care of the Association's headquarters office, Victoria. Applications shall include a) a typed letter setting out the applicant's education, career goals and relationship to PEA member, and b) a typed essay of up to 1,500 words on a topic selected by the Scholarships Committee which must identify all sources including citations and bibliography.
- Deadline for application shall be March 15. Applications must be received in the Victoria PEA office on or before March 15. No late applications will be considered. Applicants are limited to one essay/application per year.
Conditions
- Scholarships shall be awarded by the Scholarships Committee, as appointed by the executive. No scholarship applicant or her/his relative shall be eligible to serve on the Scholarships Committee.
- Scholarships may not be awarded by the Scholarships Committee if an insufficient number of suitable applications is received. Unawarded scholarship funds shall revert to the Association's general revenue.
- To eliminate favoritism and before applications are presented to the Scholarships Committee, the Executive Director shall have all identifying marks removed from scholarship essays, and identification numbers substituted. The Executive Director will cause a review of the letter accompanying the application to ensure that the conditions outlined in B1 are met. This letter will not go to the Scholarships Committee. If the conditions are not met, the applicant will be contacted to correct the shortcomings.
- Prior to meeting in committee, members of the Scholarships Committee shall review and grade each scholarship application, after which the committee shall meet to review all applications and determine which applications shall be successful.
- Subject to C.7, scholarships shall be awarded solely on the basis of the worthiness of the essay contemplated under section B.1, as determined by the Scholarships Committee. The committee will consider essay content, analysis and literary style, including grammar and spelling.
- Payment of a scholarship award shall be subject to proof of enrollment and attendance in a post-secondary educational program as contemplated under section A.2. Successful applicants prevented by disability from registering full-time must also provide a statutory declaration to that effect, and will be reimbursed for the cost of attaining the statutory declaration upon production of a receipt. This proof of enrollment and attendance must be received in the Victoria PEA office within 24 months of the notification of the award.
- The Scholarships Committee shall have discretion to allocate scholarships for high school students in proportion to the percentage of applicants who are high school students.
- The names of successful applicants will be published in The Professional.
- At the PEA's discretion, successful applicants' essays may be published or excerpted in The Professional, posted on the PEA website for up to one year, or otherwise distributed for the information of PEA members. Copies of successful essays may be made available to PEA members on request.
Appeals
- Provided it is consistent with this policy, a decision of the Scholarships Committee shall not be subject to appeal. The executive shall hear and conclude any claim that a decision of the Scholarships Committee is in violation of this policy.
